KMazur/WireImage Brooke Hogan's estrangement from her father Hulk "had nothing to do with" his third marriage to Sky Daily, Brooke's husband Steven Oleksy tells PEOPLE exclusively The estrangement, which started two years before Hulk's death, was because of "the way he treated her," Olesky says The former NHL player says he kept in contact with Brooke's family during the last two years, but "every conversation" with Hulk "led me further to protect my family" Brooke Hogan's reasons for cutting communication with her fatherHulkin the two years before his death "had nothing to do with his new wife" Sky Daily, says her husbandSteven Oleksy. Oleksy, 39, says Hulk perpetuated the narrative that Brooke cut off communication with him because she disapproved of his new marriage — but "that's not the case at all," the former hockey player tells PEOPLE. "My wife will say it — it had nothing to do with his new wife. It had to do with the way he treated [Brooke]," says Oleksy. The support Brooke had given her father — who was embroiled in several controversies during his career, including using racial slurs towards his daughter's ex-boyfriend in a leakedaudio recording— had "really taken a toll on her," says her husband. "It was a situation where she loved her dad very, very much," Olesky says. When Brooke and Oleksy married in June 2022, Hulk declined to walk her down the aisle, and was not in attendance at the ceremony at all, telling Oleksy he "doesn't do weddings or funerals anymore." George Pimentel/WireImage Then, over a "series of phone calls" between Brooke and Hulk, "there were some things said, and a lot of mistruths," says Olesky, and it was thefinal straw of their relationship. Brooke did not attend her father'sthird wedding to Daily in October 2023. In the two years since, Olesky "remained in contact with members of her family to try to keep that door open and understand if I should protect my wife or try to mend the relationship." Brooke Oleksy/instagram But Oleksy says that "each and every conversation" he had with his father-in-law during those two years "just led me further to protect my family and my wife at all costs." Navigating the Hogans' complicated relationships was "challenging" for Oleksy over the last two years. He says he was grateful to have gotten to "experience the love my wife had for her dad and entire family every day," but that it was taxing. "With that love comes heartache and comes many challenges that she's faced in the public and that she still faces today because of others' actions," he adds. "At the end of the day, knowing how much she loves everybody in her family, I always try to support decisions that she made, and I always tried to support the relationships that she envisioned." Now, as they continue grieving in the public eye, Oleksy and his wife are happy to have each other and grateful for the support of their friends. "We believe family is created, and through these trying times, great people have come into our life or come back into our life, and it's brought us some great relationships and a great support system that we look at as family," he says. And there's plenty for the Oleksys to look forward to with their 7-month-old twins,Oliver Andrew and Molly Gene, whom he calls "absolute bundles of joy." "I'm looking forward to getting back and shifting our focus on our own family, and just taking the lessons that we've learned through these situations and just incorporating them into our own family and making sure that our son and daughter feel the love that we have for them each and every day," he says. Read the original article onPeople
